Jeff Teague was sidelined during his team's game against the Utah Jazz on Sunday. The Atlanta Hawks point guard was earlier listed as "Doubtful" so his absence should not come as a surprise to the Hawks. A timeline for Teague's return to the court has yet to be revealed.
The 27-year-old has sustained a left ankle sprain during Atlanta's loss to Boston on Friday. Although injured, Teague finished the rest of the game and delivered six points, four rebounds, three turnovers and three assists. It was the first time this season that the point guard did not score in double figures.
Jeff Teague is the Atlanta Hawks' second best scorer averaging 17.1 points per game, a little behind forward-center Al Horford's 17.2. In his 11 games for the current season, Teague has averaged 6.5 assists, although his shooting has decreased to 42.6 percent success rate compared to last year's 46 percent.
He was one of last season's most promising stars as he helped his team secure the Eastern Conference's top seed and a conference finals match against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Throughout that matchup, Teague averaged 15.9 points and seven assists, which made him one of seven qualified players to meet statistical benchmarks, Basketball-Reference.com observed.
Should Teague be absent for several more games, Atlanta will likely increase point guard Dennis Schroder's minutes. Bleacher Report pointed out that Schroder is still not on par with Teague when it comes to jump-shooting capabilities but he "can provide a spark" as an off-the-bounce playmaker.
Aside from Teague, the team also listed guard-forwards Thabo Sefolosha (right ankle rehabilitation) and Kyle Korver (right ankle rehabilitation), as well as power forward Mike Muscala (right ankle sprain) as "Probable" on their injury report.
On another area of the Hawk's roster, the team decided to recall center Walter "Edy" Tavares and guard Lamar Patterson from the NBA Development League on Sunday. Both players have played for the Austin Spurs and come fresh from an impressive two-game assignment.
Patterson and Tavares started in two games for Austin and delivered big numbers in a couple of victories on Friday versus the Texas Legends and on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Blue.
Edy Tavares, 23, managed to record double-doubles in his two starts and averaged 16.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, 4.5 blocks and 1.0 steals all in 29.0 minutes per game. The 24-year-old Patterson recorded an average of 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.5 minutes for each game.
